White orchid
by QueenBeeLee
Summary: Felicity is left to figure out how she will contribute to the teams efforts in saving the city once Oliver makes it clear she was only used as bait to save Laurel and Starling City. Laurel has taken up where Black Canary left off. This is post 'Unthinkable'
1. Chapter 1

Felicity stood silent in the night waiting for word that Oliver was successful in taking Slade down. Sara and Laurel were both equally on edge. Nyssa and the rest of the League were off to the side also waiting for confirmation that they were finished here. They all knew that Oliver had to finish this on his own. As much as it pained her, she knew she couldn't demand Sara and the League to go help Oliver. This was his battle to _finally _finish.

Laurel was unusually quite. She seemed to be thinking hard about something but Felicity couldn't really focus on anything but Oliver.

She knew that his words in the Queen Mansion were for Slade's benefit but a small part of her, that was growing quickly, hoped that he meant them. It was not a secret how she felt towards him. Everyone around them had successfully guessed her true feelings, not that she ever confirmed it to any of them. She can't be sure of Oliver's feelings though.

Sometimes he gives her hope that he feels the same but usually that hope is ripped right out of under her in the form of Laurel, Helena, Detective McKenna, Isabel, and finally Sara. There was always another woman that came before her.

Oliver's words left her feeling giddy and excited though, even if she tried not to get her hopes up. Now he just had to come out of this alive so she could figure out if he really meant those words or if it was all a ruse for Slade.

"Ollie!" Laurel's screaming startled Felicity so much that she almost screamed. So she was a little jumpy after being kidnapped and held at _sword_ point by a mad man pumped full of super human strength and intent on killing her. Sue me.

She swallowed the scream and started to make her way to Oliver along with Sara and Nyssa. Nyssa, she was sure, just wanted confirmation that Slade was neutralized.

Laurel threw herself at Oliver and Felicity winced because she knew that Oliver would be sporting quite a few injuries and catching a flying woman probably wouldn't feel too nice.

His face didn't show any pain though. What it did show made Felicity stop in her tracks. Sara and Nyssa following suit.

Oliver had dropped his bow to hug Laurel tight and buried his face in her neck.

They were close enough, and it was eerily quite so they heard every word exchanged between them.

"Ollie I was so scared! I didn't know what they wanted until you said he wanted to kill the woman you loved. I love you too Ollie! So much! I never really stopped."

"Laurel, I made you as safe as I could until I was able to take Slade down. I am so sorry you got pulled into this. Are you okay? Are you hurt at all?"

His words felt like Slade's sword slicing into her. She felt actual literal pain. She just realized what her role was in all of this. She was bait to keep Slade's attention off of the _real _woman Oliver loved.

Sara reached up and put her hand on Felicity's shoulder but she shook it off. Sara had a sad smile on her face, one that disappeared when she faced her ex-boyfriend and sister.

Felicity turned around to wipe the few traitorous tears away before Oliver saw how much he had broken her.

Nyssa shook her head and took a step forward.

"If he is too foolish to see what lies before him then that is his loss, not your own. Never let him, or any other, dictate how you feel and look at yourself, little one. You are stronger than most and as brave as The Demon himself. You know what you are better than the rest at, so lean on that strength until you don't need to any longer." Nyssa reached out and squeezed her forearm where she had her arms crossed before she walked past Felicity to where Oliver still had Laurel in his arms.

Felicity turned to see Nyssa and Sara approach Oliver as he pulled away from Laurel.

"Mr. Queen, I trust that Slade Wilson is cured, and under control. I know, while you may not value her elsewhere, you do value Miss Smoak's opinion of what a hero is. So I can assume Mr. Wilson is still alive?"

"Slade is tied to a pillar until Waller can send a helicopter to extract him. Diggle, Felicity, and I will be traveling to his final location with him."

"We are? I am?" Felicity was shocked to hear she was going, as Oliver had mentioned nothing about it to her. Apparently, she got _no _say anymore at all.

"She is?" Laurel did not sound happy about that fact.

"Yes." Oliver's one word answer was directed at Laurel, he hadn't even looked at Felicity.

"Why?" Both women spoke at the same time and Felicity was shocked by the suspicion laced in Laurel's question.

"Because she is a member of the Team and helped bring Slade down. She deserves to see where he will spend out his days."

Oliver looked at her then but it was too quick to tell what might be going through his head. It was enough to let her know that her presence was not a request. He needed her there for some reason. She was too weak to tell him no, so she nodded her head and turned to head towards the direction he came from hoping to meet up with Waller and get a ride to wherever they were going.

"Felicity." She stopped and turned to face him at the same time Laurel reached for his hand and she was close enough to watch him squeeze her hand in return. He turned to look at Laurel and when she started talking Felicity just turned and walked towards a tied up and angry Slade Wilson. Oliver didn't even seem to notice.

"Miss Smoak. Well played. On his part at least." Slade's voice hadn't softened without the Mirakuru running through his veins. It was just as gravely as ever and it still caused chills to shoot up and down her spine.

"Mr. Wilson, I don't know what you mean." Felicity settled in on the hard concrete at the pillar next to him. She wouldn't have sat this close even minutes before but now she could see that he knew he was defeated. Waller should be here any moment and it felt nice to sit down, even on cold concrete.

"You know what I am speaking of Miss Smoak. Your feelings for him are obvious, I had thought he was just keeping his well hidden but there are no feelings there to hide. Are there? Otherwise why would he use you to distract me from his true love. The only one he _really _couldn't lose. His precious Laurel Lance."

Felicity did not want to cry in front of him but she was exhausted emotionally and physically. She was injured and probably needed at least a butterfly bandage on her head wound. Nobody had asked if she was okay though, and she didn't want to seem weak. Slade's words were proving too much at the moment though.

"Shut up Slade." She looked up in time to see Roy and Diggle fuming. Roy had spoken the words but Diggle delivered the punch that, thankfully, knocked Slade completely out.

Waller approached Slade and slid a syringe into his neck.

Diggle smiled sadly at Felicity and Roy just nodded. She could tell he had wanted to punch him too but Waller's arrival had stopped that. She smiled at him and he shrugged.

"That should hold him for the time it will take to get to Lian Yu, plus an extra hour or so." She shouted over her shoulder, "Take him to the airstrip and secure him for transfer, tell the pilot that the remaining three passengers will be arriving within the half hour."

Waller nodded to Diggle and briskly walked away.

"Diggle, Roy perfect timing." They all turned to watch Oliver approach with Laurel clinging to his arm. "We need to get cleaned up and head to the airstrip. Roy you stay here and get some rest. You have been through a lot the past few days. Felicity, Diggle give me a minute and we can go."

"But she is just your secretary, if she is going why can't I?" Laurel had a whine to her voice that was like nails on a chalkboard. When had she turned into that type of woman? Felicity couldn't place this woman with the Laurel she had thought she knew.

"Laurel! She is not _just my secretary_, you know she is more than that. She handles all of the computer stuff for us and is a valued member of the Team. You can't go because I never want you to have to go where we are going. It is dangerous, and even this short of a trip could go wrong. Stay here, and I will be back soon." He kissed her forehead and walked towards them.

Felicity felt like hacking. So it was too dangerous for Laurel to go but not her?

"Felicity you can ride with me, Diggle meet us at the lair, it is still in good enough condition to at least shower and change before we leave."

"I think I will ride with Diggle."

Oliver turned to study her with a frown. "Why?"

She had to think quickly, she couldn't say she didn't want to ride on his bike with him after watching Laurel hang all over him. She would feel dirty.

"My head hurts. You remember the concussion I got? It probably wasn't made any better after Slade's goons knocked me out. Pretty sure I hit it again when I fell, jerks couldn't even catch me. So I think I will ride in the car that way if I pass out again I won't fall to my death."

"Why didn't you say anything about your head?" Diggle moved forward to try and examine her injury but she pulled away and headed towards the passenger side and started to climb into the Bentley.

"Let's go. You can look at it on the plane. I, for one, do not want that sedative wearing off when we are 30,000 feet in the air."

She climbed in and watched as Diggle glared at Oliver as he hung his head. Seems he just realized that he had never stopped to see if she was okay. She _was _the one with sword to her throat after all! Geez.

Diggle joined her and started the car. As they made their way slowly, avoiding the war zone that was Starling City, Diggle reached over and squeezed her hand.

"Talk to him Felicity. See what he has to say about it all before you give up. If he doesn't come clean then I will help you figure something out to ignore him and move on, I promise."

She nodded and fought the tears threatening to spill over.

Once Slade was secure she would talk to him. See where he stood on it all, and she would go from there.


	2. Chapter 2

Felicity couldn't take it anymore. Laurel had joined the team and Oliver had taken to training her since Sara passed on the Black Canary torch, or jacket, either one worked.

Oliver didn't have a problem with taking Laurel out into the field but he still, after almost 6 months, wouldn't let her leave the safety of her monitors. She did computers, that was her thing.

As Laurel often reminded her.

She had just stopped asking or offering to go out into the field. Oliver always chose Laurel to be his date when they had to infiltrate somewhere now. Like Laurel explained to her, they were just _more _believable as a couple than her and Oliver. She took Oliver's lack of response as confirmation that he felt the same way. She saw the slight glare he sent Laurel when he thought she wasn't paying attention but she had no idea what to make of it.

Diggle was busy with Lyla and her pregnancy, and seemed to have forgotten that he promised he would help her find something to occupy her time so that she would try and move on from Oliver. He had made it clear on the beach after securing Slade, that it was all an act. She couldn't be mad at Diggle though. He had enough to worry about without adding her lack of a love life to the list.

Laurel and Oliver weren't together as a couple, but they did spend a lot of time together. At the, newly refurbished, liar when they were training, and at her apartment when they were working together to get Queen Consolidated back.

Laurel actually laughed when Felicity offered to help one night. _'This is all legal stuff, you wouldn't get most of it. Thanks though.' _Her words still made Felicity's blood boil. Again, Oliver had just stood there with a glare at Laurel but hadn't uttered a word. So Felicity stopped offering her help.

She came in, ran point for patrol or a mission and went home. She watched movies and searched for a job but everyone was still working on rebuilding the structures themselves, it would be a while before anyone worried about rebuilding the IT side of things.

So her time was mostly free. Free to wallow in her heartbreak. She couldn't take it anymore though. She needed something to occupy herself with.

She had been bored earlier and was hacking some local charities to see just how bad they were depleted when she ran across one that had a much higher balance than any of the others. It seems to have not been hit by Slade's destruction of the city.

She had been finding a few accounts like this lately. Accounts that had a high balance but hadn't been touched since Slade fell. If what she suspected was right, she had _finally _ found where Slade had been hiding his vast resources. He wouldn't be needing them anymore though, now would he.

She had a plan starting to form but she needed privacy for what she was going to do. She gathered her things and started to leave when Oliver called her back.

"Felicity? Where are you headed off to? It's early." She looked over her shoulder and saw Laurel roll her eyes at Oliver's back.

"Home. Do you really even need me here? Seems at least one of you don't even _want _me here." She was tired of being nice when Laurel had been nothing but a territorial bitch.

She turned and kept walking even after Oliver called out to her a few times. He didn't come after her though. No, he never came after _her_.

When she got home she got right to work. She pulled up all of Starling City's local charity funds, they were all in the negative and she was saddened to think of all the people they could help if only they had the money. Well, she couldn't go out into the field and save these people but she could arm the people who were taking care of them. She could make a difference in her own way.

She wanted a name for herself though. Something like Oliver and Sara/Laurel have that identifies me as the one helping. She was drying off from a hot shower when she spotted the white orchid in the window that Sara and Nyssa had sent to her a few months back.

It had come with a card. Felicity walked over and read it once again.

_White Orchids, represent kindness and truth. White in color symbolize innocence, humility and grace. Given to mark new beginnings._

Felicity had been honored that Sara and Nyssa had thought so highly of her. She knew what her name would be, now to get to work.


	3. Chapter 3

She had worked through the night and looked like it. Dark circles ringed under her eyes and she was slow and groggy. Oliver, Diggle and Laurel were set to patrol in half an hour though so she finished the last transfer and hurried to the lair.

"Where have you been? We were trying to leave early so we could grab an early dinner!" Laurel's grating voice greeted her before she was even fully in the room.

Felicity rolled her eyes and just made her way to her desk. Her computers were already fired up and Felicity didn't have to ask who was brave enough to touch her babies. Diggle, Roy and Oliver certainly weren't.

"I didn't do it Felicity, I promise." Roy spoke up and she laughed at his scared expression.

"I know Roy, it was Laurel. She is the only one that doesn't respect my stuff, and my requests not to touch them."

"Excuse me?!" Laurel screeched. Ugh, that was getting annoying.

"You heard me Laurel, everyone else knows not to touch my computers and I have asked you repeatedly not to. But at least every other day, I am fixing something or re-running a search because you logged on and interrupted it or an update, to check Facebook or TMZ for pictures of you and Oliver. Don't think I can't tell what you surfed the web for."

"I think you forget just whose computers they really are Miss Smoak. Your employer supplied you with those which means I can touch them if I want."

"Actually, Miss Lance since we are being formal, after Slade tore apart the other ones and since Oliver was broke, I replaced these out of my own pocket. I also replaced everything else you see around here. Including the rest of the outfit you are wearing. Sara only left you the jacket, how do you think you got the rest of it?"

Felicity hadn't realized she had gotten up and in Laurel's face. She was tired though, so that would probably explain it.

Felicity turned around and took Diggle and Roy's shocked faces in stride on her way to her desk.

"You really bought all of this?" Roy was studying his feet awfully hard. "Even my stuff?"

Roy had to have an outfit too, she couldn't let him feel left out so she told him.

"I didn't want you to feel second best, or left out. So I bought you one too. Diggle, before you ask, yes I replaced all of your precious weapons that were stolen in the raids."

She was engulfed in a Diggle and Roy sandwich. "Don't ever spend money on us again, girl!" Diggle was honored to call her a friend but she didn't have to spend her hard earned money on them.

"Are we going?" Laurel was at the door ready to go and they all looked to Oliver for guidance. He was studying Felicity with a sad expression and just nodded his head. She noticed he was really looking around the lair though. Taking in exactly how much she had drained her savings for the first time.

Just then her computers chirped with an alert.

"Hold up guys, might have a mission for you after all." She swiveled around in her chair and pulled up the details of the latest crime alert. When she saw what it was though she could have smacked herself. She had forgotten to modify the searches to exclude her new solo activities. Since she didn't though, her system had caught her. Looks like she would have to come clean a lot sooner than she thought.

Damn it.

"What is it Felicity?" Diggle grabbed a chair and got comfortable.

"Okay, so I have been coming across some dormant accounts, like 6 months exact dormant. These accounts have balances and if they are inactive for a year the bank will close them and absorb the balance as profit. I guessed who they belonged to and was finally able to trace most of them back to Slade or Isabel, or both."

"So, you found all their money! That's great, you can hack it and put it in Oliver's accounts so he can have the capital to get QC back! Ollie, that's great!" Laurel sounded so excited and it only burned Felicity a little bit to fill her in on the last bit of it.

"I can't do that, and wouldn't even if Oliver wanted me to. Which I am pretty sure he wouldn't. I did drain the accounts I just transferred it somewhere more deserving."

"More deserving? More deserving than the hero that saved Starling City from a mad man!?" Laurel was mad, madder than Felicity had ever seen her. Oliver stepped forward and tried to calm Laurel down.

"No Ollie! Don't you dare stick up for her! She probably used that money to buy all this stuff so she would look better than me in your eyes!"

Okay, Laurel was officially crazy.

"Umm, actually no. I depleted my savings to buy all this _stuff_, so that Oliver could continue saving the city. And it was not just Oliver that saved the city or continues to by the way, we all worked together to save it." She gestured to Diggle and Roy knowing they would have taken offense to her omission of them too.

"Then what did you do with the money Felicity? And how much exactly was it?"

"Well…when I stumbled across those accounts I only realized the inconsistencies because they were set up as local charities. Poverty, child neglect and abuse, domestic abuse, charities like that. I had been looking into the most desolated charities to find one to donate the rest of my savings to or to volunteer at. All of them were in the negative. Not one stood out as the worst because they were all about to shut their doors. That's when I noticed the high balances of the other accounts, in the millions in each one. That just didn't add up, then add in that they have been dormant since the day Slade was taken down and I put two and two together."

"You are the White Orchid, aren't you?!" Roy shouted it and scared the crap out of everyone at the same time.

"The what?" Oliver was confused.

"Didn't you watch the news this morning?" Roy rolled his eyes when everyone said no.

"Overnight all the locally run charities received a huge anonymous electronic deposit, in the millions, and are now able to really help those who need it most. None of them know where the money came from but each computer in _each _charity had a picture of a white orchid as the screensaver when they arrived this morning. So the media is calling the hacker 'White Orchid,' it's you isn't it?" Roy turned to look at her but she kept quite.

"Felicity?" Digggle had gotten out of his chair and stood next to Felicity.

"Okay, yes. I did it. I didn't think the news would pick up on what I named myself that quick though! I just was going to check back periodically to make sure they were spending that money on what it was given to them for and wanted them to know when I check up on them. So I created an electronic, untraceable calling card."

"You do know that is illegal right?! I will have to report you, I am still a lawyer."

"You are also Starling City's newest vigilante too. And what she did is not any different than what you had just asked her to do for me. It was fine when it was going into my bank accounts Laurel? You will not be turning Felicity in for anything."

Oliver had a growl to his voice that none of them had heard in a long time.

"Ollie?!"

"It's Oliver, Laurel. Have you not picked up on the fact that nobody calls me that anymore?"

"Why are you being like this all of a sudden?" She sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

"Laurel, I have stood by and watched you belittle Felicity time and time again. I let it go hoping you just needed time after Detective Lance died and would realize one day how much she does for all of us but this is the final straw. Felicity _is _this team. We would be nothing without her. You have tried to prove your worth over her for the last 6 months and I can't take it anymore. I can't watch what it does to her anymore. You have asked repeatedly why we aren't together, and I have told you why."

"If you care for her so much then why aren't you with her!" Laurel screamed it and Felicity watched in stunned silence.

"Because I am terrified I will hurt her!" Oliver turned to look at Felicity. "I don't want to cause you anymore pain but I have never been in a relationship where I care about my partner as much as I care about you. I pushed you away so roughly because I was terrified. I am so sorry. I saw what it did to you but the wounds were too fresh. The image of you in his arms with his sword at your neck was playing on a replay in my mind every single time I closed my eyes. I meant every word I spoke to you in the mansion, Felicity. Every. Word."

She didn't know what to say. Didn't even know where to start.

"What about me Oliver? You said you loved me and I thought she was just a distraction for Slade."

"I do love you Laurel, a part of me always will, but I am not in love with you. Or Sara, even though I love her too. I am only _in_ love with Felicity." He met her eyes for the last part and Felicity felt the intensity.

Now that the time was here, she didn't know what to do. She had waited for this, had hoped and wished for this but now that they were here she was speechless. Her, speechless.

"Then I quit. After Dad died, I didn't want to stay here anyways but I did in hopes we could be together. I was offered a job a few days ago in Gotham, I think I may take it. You should be able to go forward with the plan to get QC back, you are just waiting on the board to vote anyways." With that Laurel turned and disappeared out of the alley door and only turned back once to see if Oliver was watching her go. He had not once turned from Felicity though.

"I need time Oliver. I don't really believe you love me like you say you do. You stood there and let her talk to me anyway she wanted and never once stood up for me as a friend let alone you woman you claim to love."

Oliver started to take a step but she held a hand up to stop him.

"I am not saying no Oliver but look at where I am coming from. You can't be as hot and cold as you have been to me and expect me to run into your arms. You broke my heart numerous times and I don't know if I am ready to risk it happening again."

"I will wait, Felicity. However long it takes. I am not going anywhere with anyone but you."

She smiled and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"Well I guess I owe you this." They looked over to see Roy give Diggle a $20.

"What did you bet on?" Felicity had a good idea but she was curious as to the details.

"I bet that it would take less than 6 months for you two to get together."

"But we aren't together." Felicity felt the need to point out.

"Yet." Oliver's softly spoken words were sent with a heated look that made long dormant regions of her body start to thaw.

"Oh now that look is just cheating!" She slapped a hand over her mouth too late to stop the words from escaping. She was mortified and Oliver looked smug. She had a feeling he was going to fight dirty to get her to come around faster.

That jerk.

"So let's see what the White Orchid has been up to shall we?" Oliver pulled chairs over for him and Roy and they all settled down to listen to Felicity show them what she had done.

He was beyond proud of her and the fact that she found her own way to save the city. He guessed that is what he needed. He knew she needed to actively help save the city for her to feel like a part of the team. He was just terrified of the many things that could happen to her in the field. Her finding her own way while still in the safety of the lair. It was the best of both worlds and Oliver finally felt secure enough to pursue a relationship with the one woman, he knows now, he has ever truly loved.

He just had a lot of stupid decisions to make up for, and he could think of _many _ways to make them up to her too. He could _finally _act the way he wanted to with her. He could touch her if he wanted to and not worry about what anyone else would think about it. He wanted everyone to know how he felt about her. Now that he got over the hard part of admitting it to her, he felt relived and light for the first time since before the island.

They would work it out and they would be the perfect match for each other in every way. She would guide him as Oliver Queen, CEO and as The Green Arrow. He wouldn't have it any other way.

The Green Arrow and The White Orchid were going to be a force to be reckoned with.


End file.
